


Morgana's Grip

by tigereyes45



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: A different kind of angst then what I usually write, Angst, Angst and Feels, Claire-centric, F/M, Future AU, Jim and Claire have a family, Light Angst, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, irrational fear of mirrors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 19:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18676372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: Claire still suffers from her experiences with Morgana. From possession to battle Claire has fought to overcome her nightmares and the deep feeling that everything was about to go wrong. Even in the peaceful moments such as when she takes her daughters shopping for Easter outfits.





	Morgana's Grip

It was difficult looking in the mirror even after all these years. Even as she stood in a body sized mirror with Elsie picking out her new Easter dress. The young girl looks much like her uncle rather than her mother or father. Blonde hair and curious, big brown eyes fill out the girl’s small face. Her white dress was far too fluffy for something she would be wearing in the grass while hunting for eggs. Yet Claire knew she wouldn’t wear any other. It made her own pale skin seem darker by comparison. She had also gotten her father’s complexion.

Claire avoids looking at her own face in the mirror as her daughter spins again and again. Enjoying the dress ends flaring up.  “Mommy, what is Linnie going to wear?” Her eldest asks as she gestures towards the one-year-old who was sitting quietly on the floor.

“She will wear the shirt and paints mommy and daddy got her,” Claire explains thankful as her daughter walks away from the mirror. “Katelynn is too small to hunt eggs alone.”

“But Uncle Blinky said he was hunting eggs on his own since he was born.”

Claire stifles a laugh as she picks her youngest up. “Uncle Blinky tends to exaggerate. Isn’t that right Katelynn sweetie?”

Linnie laughs in her arms, and Claire brushes her small spat of dark hair back from her face. Linnie had more of her father in her, from her blue eyes to dark brown hair that Claire hopes will turn back so she could say each of her daughters look a little like her. Linnie even had a complexion darker than her own, more like her grandfather’s. “Is that the one you want?” Her heart hopes it is as she was ready to go home. She was beginning to feel trapped in the changing compartment of the store. There were several mirrors all about it for the customers to look over themselves.

“Yes!” Elsie declares excitedly. She jumps up and down with her arms up, as if she also wanted to be held.

“Go change back into your clothes, and we’ll buy the dress.” Claire stands up moving Linnie to her hip as she waits on Elsie. Her eldest struggles with pulling her paints up alone so they had been letting her wear her dresses out in public. While that ad never really been Claire’s style, her daughter loved the simplicity of dresses.

Once Elsie was changed they checked out and started the walk home. Claire holds Linnie’s hand as she gets her walking practice in. Elsie walking just a few steps ahead of her family. The walk wasn’t long. Not nearly as long as how far Claire used to have to walk to get around to places in New Jersey. Yet another positive to having moved back to Arcadia Oaks. New Jersey was always busy and moving. Filled with people, her reflection everywhere. She makes sure to keep her eyes averted from the stores’ windows as they walk. It was easier to avoid seeing herself in Arcadia, while in New Jersey it felt as if everywhere she looked Clarie only saw her body, possessed by Morgana.

When they get home Elsie gives up on keeping pace with her mother and little sister. Usually, Claire would call her back, but they had already crossed over the bridge where cars drove over without care for the speed, and their house was only a few feet in front of them now. Linnie reaches out for her little sister and tries to run after her. Claire catches her youngest as she trips. She wasn’t ready to keep up with her sister just yet.

Claire watches Jim meet Elsie at the door. His fangs were strikingly clear in the daylight as he hugs her. Their daughters never shrunk away from their father. Instead, Elsie image changes as she allows her own fangs to grow out and her skin tone change from a pale white to a light blue. Their youngest hasn’t shone any traits of troll within her just yet, and Clarie was beginning to wonder if she ever would. Elsie was born with large teeth and blue fur like skin, but Linnie always looked the same and never once had her appearance changed.

Jim kisses her cheek once she was in the safe area of the porch for him. Where the shade kept the sun from reaching his skin. “Dinner is done,” he informs her as Elsie demands for her father’s attention.

“I got a new dress! Look at my new dress daddy!” she pulls on his pant leg to make him look back at her.

“She own’t leave it be dear,” Claire points out walking inside behind the two of them.

He had made her favorite for dinner. Omelets, with chips and guacamole. He made each one with their favorite toppings inside each as well as a dish of scrambled eggs for Linnie. As they sat down and ate together it felt peaceful. For once Linnie was eating her food instead of throwing it about. Even Elsie was eating her food happily without throwing a fit over it first. Just as with every peaceful moment, something inside Claire screamed out. As if any moment now Gunmar would rise back from the dead and attack their home. It was the same sinking feeling she felt when fighting against Morgana both times. The same one that greets after every nightmare. Something is wrong.

She pushes the feeling back down to the bottom of the evergrowing pit in her stomach and eats her meal peacefully with her family. Once they were done Jim agreed to bathe the girls before tucking them in. He gave her a soft smile as he says so, and Claire wonders if it was evident on her face that the anxious feeling had returned. She thanked him and found her way back upstairs to their room.

For once it was quiet. Jim’s radio beside their bed was silent and she was alone. Claire takes her hair clips out and set them on her dresser. She looks and stares at the empty wall above it. They didn’t have a mirror in their room. The only mirror in the entire house was in the bathroom. Not only had she gone so far not to include them but anything that could cast a clear reflection was kept out of their bedroom. When she was freed from Morgana she couldn’t even look in the mirror to place her hair clips in her hair. For months afterwards, Notenrique helped her place them in her hair. Now she wore a simple style with only two in. One on either side of her face, that way she wouldn’t have to look to do her own hair. Jim still offers to brush it for her every once in a while.

She knows it wouldn’t matter if Morgana was still alive. She took control of Claire without the aids of mirrors before. Her fear was irrational, she knows that. She can’t help the feeling of Morgana’s magic climbing up her spine every time she saw herself though. It had been in a bathroom with a mirror that she had been confronted by Morgana it was then that she thought she had lost her mind. It was then she realized what was happening and lost all sense of control.

Control she thought she had taken back, but there was always that chance. The chance of her coming back.

Claire tucks herself in and squeezes her eyes extra tightly. As if she could summon the night to consume her and take her off to her dreams.

Claire sighs and sits up. Sleeping wasn’t working, but the house was already dark. She looks over to see that at some point Jim had crawled into bed next to her. That was when she realizes sleeping must have worked for she never heard of felt him. It just hadn’t felt like it. Then she wishes the absence of thought sleep could have continued until morning.

The sounds of crying pull her thoughts away. She looks over to see the cries were coming from the baby monitor. Katelynn was crying. She sighs as she runs a hand through her hair. She almost wishes Noterinque had stayed with them longer. He was so good with Elsie when she was a baby, but as Enrique grew so did Noterinque and eventually, he got too large to stay above ground while the sun was out. It was a risk he was tired of taking and while the Elsie missed her favorite uncle, Claire understood. She never wanted him to put himself at risk.

Claire steps out her room and looks across the hall towards the girls’. Their door was wide open. That was strange as they always shut the door and locked their windows at night. After what happened with Enrique Jim and Claire took no chances with their girls. Even if Elsie seemed to be akin to changelings.

As she darts into the girls’ room she sees that they were both still tucked away in their beds. Elsie was snoring softly into her pillow as Linnie was still crying out. She was sitting up against the bars of her crib, her body shaking as she sobs.

“Hey there,” Claire speaks softly as she picks up her baby girl. “What’s got you spooked baby girl?” Claire asks as she looks her daughter over. Her diaper was dry and she had eaten enough earlier at dinner. So she shouldn’t be hungry.

Linnie stops crying as soon as her mother questions her. Claire marks it off to that she was just lonely and wanted mommy. So she wraps her arms around her while bouncing carefully around. Singing always calmed Elsie but not Linnie. No Linnie needed to be moving, or else she would never close her eyes.

When they start to shut Claire sighs from relief. It didn’t take to long to get their sweet girl to fall back asleep tonight. Another lucky moment in a day that felt filled with them. It brought the sinking feeling back. Claire looks over to check up on Elsie but her eldest was still there. They were all still safe. When she looks back down at Linnie Claire lets out a shout. Her daughter’s beautiful blue eyes were now a gross yellow color. The same yellow as her eyes had been when Morgana was in control.

“You can’t escape little girl. You know I will come back and when I do,” Claire almost throws her daughter away from her. Commons sense and fear of hurting the toddler gives Claire enough bravery to simply set her back in her bed. “You’ll lose your daughters!” As soon as her feet have touched the bed Linnie started floating. Her eyes glowing brighter by the second. Her floating form emitting the power of magic Claire had not felt in a long time.

Claire runs back to the door only to find it was shut and locked now. She immediately starts banging her fists against the wood. Screaming for Jim’s help.

“Now, now that’s no way to greet an old friend girl.” Morgana’s voice says eerily sweet. Claire looks over her shoulder to see her child was now holding a small hand mirror. Slowly she floated closer to Claire, mirror in hand pointed at her face. She came closer agonizingly slow. As if the sorceress wanted to drag out the process as long as possible.

“You’ll lose them all. To your own hand!” Morgana declares as Linnie throws the mirror at her face. The mirror stops a few mere centimeters from her face. Looking back at her was Morgana wearing her skin. Slowly pulling it back a little at a time. Claire screams as she watches the skin on her face be pulled away to reveal Morgana’s.

“Claire! You were screaming!” Jim shouts as she wakes up next to him. Immediately she tries to roll away to get out from under his hands. They didn’t feel like Jim. He didn’t look like Jim to her. She could still only see Morgana slowly ripping her face to shreds before her.

“Get away from me! Stay away from Linnie!” She orders as she manages to wiggle free. Claire covers her eyes as soon as her legs hit the floor.

“Another night terror?” Jim asks softly, in a whisper. As if he was afraid to even speak to her. She was crying, Claire felt the tears roll down her cheeks freely. She knows now she is awake but she still only saw her. She still felt her. The last time it felt this real she had broken the bathroom’s mirror.

“It’s alright Claire. It’s just me. We’re home remember, and there’s no Morgana here. She’s dead. Remember, Toby, killed her.”

“I-i-i know.” She manages the sounds between sobs. “B-but it felt so real. Linnie was, she was,”

She could hear Jim get up from their bed, but Clarie refused to move her hands away from her eyes. She could feel him in front of her without having to look. “I’ll go get Linnie.” He promises before kissing her head and walking out. She forces herself to glimpse through her fingers to see that their daughters’ bedroom door was shut.

Jim opens it up and grabs their daughter in a mere few seconds. As he walks back towards her Claire has managed to calm herself down enough that she could lower her hands. Jim slowly bends down to her level, squatting as he holds their baby girl out. “See Claire, Linnie is fine. No one got her.” As soon as he speaks Linnie opens her eyes. As if her fathers’ voice had commanded her to do so. Claire's heart skips a beat as soon as she looks at her daughter. Instead of her beautiful blue spheres, her eyes were as yellow as the harvest moon.

Jim’s shock mirrors her own, but there was one difference between them. Jim would still be able to look at their daughter without fear, but after her terror, Claire has no idea if she will ever be able to again.


End file.
